Is it safe to deal with Trump or Musk related companies?

17 February 2025, updated 21 February 2025

Portuguese editorial cartoonist Zez Vaz reaches back to Tiananmen Square to call on American defiance.

1. Is a federal government investigator more or less likely to investigate a Musk or Trump related company for a safety or fraud related concern than other companies?

2. Are Musk or Trump related companies more or less likely to violate safety or consumer protection laws than other companies?

In my opinion, these are easy questions to answer.

1. A federal government regulator is much less likely to investigate a Musk or Trump related company for a safety or fraud related concern than other companies, because:

   1. Musk and Trump are co-Presidents of the United States. Investigating your boss, much less these Presidents, is asking for trouble - at a minimum risking your job and possibly other retribution.

   2. Current investigations into Musk related businesses are already stalled - we can anticipate that they will disappear soon and that new investigations will not continue either.

      The events of the past few weeks have thrown into question the progress and outcomes of many of those pending investigations into his companies.

      The inquiries include the Federal Aviation Administration’s fines of Mr. Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, for safety violations and a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit pressing Mr. Musk to pay the federal government perhaps as much as $150 million, accusing him of violating federal securities law.

      On its own, the National Labor Relations Board, an independent watchdog agency for workers’ rights, has 24 investigations into Mr. Musk’s companies, according to the review by The Times.

   3. A small government team regulating the autonomous cars that Elon Musk says represent the future of Tesla is getting cut nearly in half by the Musk-led U.S. Doge Service, according to people briefed on the reductions. This further indicates regulation of Musk’s companies is likely to be reduced.

   4. Tesla is now recalling 380,000 vehicles in US over a power steering assist issue after a more than one-year-long probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. These problems will likely continue in the future, but how likely are the probes to continue?

2. Musk or Trump related companies are much more likely to violate safety or consumer protection laws than other companies because they don’t care about this:

   1. We already know that Musk is profoundly corrupt: “The person ruling on Elon Musk’s DOGE conflicts of interest is…Elon Musk” - no ethical person would consider this acceptable. See also here for more corrupt activity by Musk.

   2. Donald Trump is not only deranged but may be insane. He believes he is above the law: "He who saves his Country does not violate any Law," Trump wrote recently.” Thus, Musk and Trump will do whatever they want, regardless of ethics or the law.

Since Trump’s inauguration, Trump and Musk have focused their activities on:

• Cutting services that benefit the middle class.

• Markedly damaging the federal government’s mechanisms for monitoring safety for consumers.

• Seeking revenge against anyone who appears to get in their way.

This demonstrates that they have little concern for the welfare of most Americans.

Thus, I conclude that Musk and Trump related companies are much more likely to be reckless regarding safety and consumer protection and are much less likely to be investigated fairly by the federal government. They may be investigated by State government, reporters or nonprofits, but they do not have the resources of the federal government and they may also fear the repercussions of challenging Musk or Trump.

Of course, this is just my opinion and you can do what you want. But don’t be surprised if your association with Musk, Trump or their businesses does not work out as expected and you are forced to deal with unsafe conditions or fraud.

I suggest these actions:

• Don’t buy their products or services.

  • Sell your Tesla ASAP. Unlike other brands, you may never know if a safety problem arises because the federal government will not investigate it fairly and even state agencies may be afraid.

• Don’t do business with them.

• Attempt to end existing contracts or collaborations.

• Protest at their locations, see Tesla takeover, Tesla takedown

• Don’t work for them.

• Sell their stock.

• Avoid their social media and being in their presence.

Or, you can take your chances and continue your current activities. Maybe you believe Trump’s promises to end the war in Ukraine and inflation on Day 1 and that he has your best interests at heart.

I tried to warn you.

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